Sometimes the timing is off

'For better or for worse' meets the urgent care center

I try to take into account my wife Tanya's objections to the way I drive, among other things. I just address them in my own good time.

Sometimes I address them at inopportune times.

Take Saturday, for instance. Tanya was busy trimming some fabric as she worked on a quilting project. I was sitting on the couch when I heard something amiss.

Seems that Tanya had sliced off the side of her left index finger with her rotary cutter - obviously a razor-sharp instrument. I dashed for the paper towels and she wrapped her bleeding finger in it. Blood soaked through. I ripped off another paper towel and handed it to her and, with my vast medical knowledge, told her, "Apply pressure to it."

While she was applying pressure I went into the bathroom and got out the can of first-aid spray and a box of Band-Aids. Dr. Beck to the rescue!

I went back to the kitchen, where Tanya was applying another paper towel. Her blood had soaked through another one. Not the quicker picker-upper to be sure. She eyed the can of first-aid spray and asked in no uncertain terms: "What do you think you're going to do with that?"

Obviously I wasn't going to spray her finger with it.

She called urgent care centers and found one still open. Grabbing extra paper towels we drove off in my car. I know Tanya gets anxious when she has to ride with me driving, so, to eliminate any source of stress, I engaged the cruise control to keep the speed right at the limit.

I kicked it up a notch and thought I heard her mutter, "Now he drives the speed limit."

Our experiences with urgent care centers have shown there is normally quite a wait, so as we were approaching a convenience store, I asked considerately, "Do you want to stop and get something to drink?"

She shot me a look and held up her finger.

"Bleeding!"

I'm glad it was her index finger.

When we got to the center the medical staff replaced the paper towels with sterile gauze bandages, which Tanya soaked through as we filled out paperwork. More and more gauze was applied. While we sat waiting, I heard a recent arrival greet someone who had been waiting a while:

"How are you?"

"Fine. How are you?"

"Just fine."

They're in an urgent care center. Someone is not feeling well here, and they're saying they're both fine! Amarilloans are so polite.

After a time, we were escorted to an examining room where we were attended to by our neighbor, Becky Morton, who's a nurse there. Talk about a small world. She unwrapped Tanya's bandage and had her immerse it in a mystical solution to clean the wound and hopefully begin clotting. For nearly an hour Tanya kept her finger in the solution before the bleeding finally abated.

The medical staff put a pressure bandage on her finger, wrote her a prescription for antibiotics and sent us on our way.

Later, Tanya took me up on my offer to wash her hair in the bathtub so she wouldn't get her bandaged finger wet. I thought I was doing a good job but I scrubbed too hard and for not long enough, she said. Then I didn't get all the conditioner out of her hair. It took a few more tries before it was good enough. The next day I discovered Tanya washing her own hair - one-handed. She said it was easier on her that way.